ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University men's cross country team finished seventh out of the 11 teams competing in the 2025 Empire 8 Cross Country Championships hosted by St. John Fisher University on Saturday morning.
 
The Saxons scored 184 points, just 10 away from tying Fisher and well ahead of the rest of the pack of Hartwick College (266 points), SUNY Poly (300 points), Russell Sage College (303 points) and Keuka College (312 points). SUNY Geneseo won the men's championship title with 24 teams points while Utica University followed with 72.
 
"A quote we've been saying for a couple of years now is 'You don't need a perfect day to do great things' and that was very evident today," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "It was a tough course due to all the turns and constant changes in elevation. These disruptions can really mess with your mentality as it's so hard to get into your stride and find your pace throughout the race. Our team did a great job of using each other while they were out on the course. They were able to work together and push through to some very good results. A shoutout to Fin [Dean] who earned an All-E8 award. We haven't had a male athlete achieve this honor since 2017."
 
Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) led the way with 22 points as he finished 27^th overall with a time of 27:56.9. Dean's finish at 27^th place overall earned him the final spot on the All-Empire 8 Third Team as there are only nine runners on each the First Team, Second Team and Third Team listings. Coming down the final stretch, Dean battled Houghton University's Henry Sardina for that final spot. Sardina had jumped up four positions since the last checkpoint but missed All-Empire 8 honors as Dean crossed first by 0.04 seconds. Kyle Gallo '18 earned First Team honors in 2017 and was followed by Matthew Roder '18 earned Second Team honors in the same year as the last Saxons to earn Empire 8 Men's Cross Country All-Conference honors.
 
First-year Seth Stevens (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) crossed the finish line in 28:16.4 to finish 33^rd overall and scored 27 points. Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca) crossed third for the Saxons with a time of 28:16.4 in 55^th place overall and 41 team points.
 
Evan Foran (Vestal, NY/Vestal) and Damian Brown (Homer, NY/Homer) rounded out the scoring positions for AU as Foran clocked a time of 30:18.5 and Brown crossed in 30:41.9. finishing in 69^th and 73^rd place, respectively.
 
The next scheduled meet is the 2025 NCAA Regional Championships, hosted by RIT on Saturday, November 15 at 11:00am.